For most Conway Corp customers, flipping a switch and having the lights come on is something we rarely have to think about.
For families in the Navajo Nation who have never had electricity in their homes, that simple moment can be life-changing.
This year, six Conway Corp electric employees traveled more than 1,000 miles from home to Arizona to help make that moment possible as part of the 2026 Light Up Navajo initiative.
Senior Lineman Travis Lauer, Journeyman Linemen Kyle Troxler and Cody Tackett, Apprentice Lineman 4 Wesley Fason, Apprentice Lineman 2 David Ragland and Apprentice Lineman 1 Connor Frost joined utility workers from across the country to help extend electric service to homes across the Navajo Nation.
“We were proud of our crew who went beyond the lines of our system to light up lives in the Navajo Nation in Arizona,” Conway Corp Electric Distribution System Manager Robert Meek said. “Our linemen traveled thousands of miles from home to help bring power, comfort and hope to those who have never had electricity. That’s the true spirit of compassion, resilience and the strength of a community willing to help others in need.”
Light Up Navajo brings public power utilities from across the country together to help extend electricity to homes in one of the most remote areas of the United States.
For the Conway Corp crew, the project meant taking the same skills they use every day to serve Conway and putting them to work more than 1,000 miles away.
The work is physically demanding. Crews work long days in unfamiliar desert terrain, building the infrastructure necessary to bring electricity to homes that have gone without it for generations.
For Troxler, who also participated in Light Up Navajo in 2025, the opportunity represents what service means at Conway Corp.
“I’m thankful to work for a company that believes in putting others first,” Troxler said. “Being able to use the skills we have as linemen to help families in the Navajo Nation is incredibly rewarding. They need our help, and I’m honored to play a small part in bringing power, comfort and opportunity to their homes.”
Bringing power to a home changes much more than the ability to turn on a light.
Electricity can mean refrigeration for food and medicine, the ability to charge a phone, use household appliances and provide light for children to read or complete schoolwork after dark. It brings conveniences and opportunities that many people have never experienced life without.
That makes the moment a home is energized especially meaningful for both the family receiving power and the crews who helped make it possible.
For Conway Corp employees, the experience also provides a powerful reminder of the impact of the work they perform every day.
A utility pole is more than a piece of infrastructure. A power line is more than a wire.
At the end of that line is a home and a family.
Light Up Navajo is a partnership between the American Public Power Association and the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority that brings volunteer crews from public power utilities across the United States to the Navajo Nation.
The initiative reflects one of the defining characteristics of public power – communities and utilities helping one another when help is needed.
Conway Corp’s crew was joined on the journey by fellow Arkansas public power utilities. West Memphis Utilities also sent a crew, while Benton Utilities sent two employees to participate in the initiative. Although the crews were assigned to different areas of the Navajo Nation, they traveled to Arizona together to support the shared mission of bringing electricity to families.
Conway Corp participated in the initiative in 2025, when seven employees traveled to Arizona and worked alongside Navajo Tribal Utility Authority crews to build power lines and energize homes. The experience left a lasting impression on the employees who participated and reinforced Conway Corp’s commitment to supporting the project.
This year, another group answered the call.
While the scenery and working conditions may look very different from Conway, the purpose behind the work is familiar: safely and reliably connecting people to an essential service.
Every day, Conway Corp electric employees build and maintain the system that powers homes, businesses, schools and organizations throughout Conway.
Light Up Navajo gives them an opportunity to take that expertise beyond the boundaries of the system they normally serve.
They leave their families, travel thousands of miles and work alongside people they may have never met – all to help another family experience electricity in their home.
That’s what makes Light Up Navajo about much more than building power lines.
It’s about people helping people.
And for the six Conway Corp employees who made the journey in 2026, it was another opportunity to demonstrate just how far the spirit of public power can reach.
